The true tale of the Return of the Jedi
by Miss M Cricket
Summary: On the desperate mission to free Han from Jabba the Hutt, Luke discovers a lost Jedi. But Luke is unprepared for the connection between them, nor is he ready when they are thrust into a life or death world in a war torn galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- this story takes direct quotes from both the film and the book by James Kahn. Yeh yeh I don't own anything except for Damia.  
  
The Deal is- Ok well this story is set in the third movie and I am sorry to all those purists but please. This is rated R for reasons. Later.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Damia Thanach kept her face blank as she served the court of Jabba the Hut their disgusting drinks. Blandly she fended of the many slimy hands creeping where they shouldn't. For indeed to Jabba's cronies she was only there for their disgusting methods of pleasure.  
  
She moved over to some skiff guards. One was a human wearing a half-mask of pit-boar teeth. Under her eyelashes she assessed him.  
  
He suddenly turned to her and she bowed slightly.  
  
"Drinks, sirs?" she murmured demurely. The man considered her carefully and suddenly she felt something. He was not one of Jabba's minions he was an outsider here to free Captain Han Solo.  
  
"Who are you girl?" he asked in a raspy voice.  
  
"Damia Thanach." She whispered back. "You?"  
  
He hesitated.  
  
"Lando Calrissian." He smiled. "But you already knew that didn't you? You have that power the same as Luke. Are you going to hand me in?" She could hear the teasing in his voice but she could sense the tension in his mind.  
  
"Why would I?" Damia asked. "Do you think I enjoy this?" she gestured at the seductively skimpy costume and the slimy drinks on her tray. "If I help you and your Jedi friend..." Lando shuffled uncomfortably. "Will you take me out of this hell hole?"  
  
"Since now you know about Luke as well I shall say yes but remember that it's his decision." Lando warned.  
  
Damia smiled radiantly and then moved on to give out more drinks, her face as bland as always.  
  
The arrival of the bounty hunter with a wookie had suprised Damia. She had felt the way the creature longed to strike out at the Gamorrean guards but she saw Lando's warning glance at the Wookie. She sent soothing thought to the unhappy beast and the wookie grew quiet. Lando glanced across at her and nodded in approval.  
  
The bounty hunter nodded at her too.  
  
Another person in this plot then.  
  
Damia felt her breath quicken.  
  
From far away she received a rush of triumph. Clumsily she tried to block her mind. The other mind stiffened and turned to her own, but she slipped away.  
  
In a hut in the sands of Tatooine Luke Skywalker attached the last two pieces of casing for his very own Lightsaber. Joy and triumph filled him.  
  
Then he felt a mind in Jabba's palace touch his own and was now clumsily trying to erect shields. He tried to capture the mind that had all the talent of a Jedi but it slipped away like a piece of mist.  
  
Damia watched as though in a dream as Luke entered the throne room. He was of medium hight with a fighter's grace and muscles. His hair was sandy and flopped casually into a pair of intensely blue eyes. He was robed in an old brown robe but Damia's quick eyes distinguished the black fighting clothes underneath. Then as his mind touched hers she recognised him.  
  
"You!" she mind cried before throwing up her shields again. Luke's head whipped around and his eyes sought her out. She froze under that stare.  
  
Luke was just beginning to filter everything out of his consciousness other than Jabba when he felt the mind voice from the desert.  
  
"You!" It cried in a beautiful woman's voice. His head came up before he could help it and he sought her out f the shadows.  
  
What he saw took his breath away. She had flaming red-gold hair which was long and tied up in a high ponytail. Her eyes were big a vivid green. Colour. Her skin was creamy. She wore a small top made of red gold satin, which accentuated a wonderful cleavage. He belly was exposed and it was flat and supple. Next down she wore 'bikini' bottoms also made of satin but this time they were gold. From them came down a long swathe of cloth on either side of between her legs in ruby red. She was slim and moved like a cat. She had the mind of a Jedi. And what's more she had been trained. He could feel the powerful Jedi training and smiled. What a prize to find in this trash heap.  
  
Bib Fortuna led Luke before Jabba and said proudly.  
  
"Master, I present Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight."  
  
Out of the corner of his eye Luke noticed the girl move surreptitiously forward. Her eyes were on his face. He had to ignore her when all he wanted was to turn and ask her for her name.  
  
"Damia." Said her mind voice as her eyes crinkled slightly with mirth. His attention was suddenly brought back to Jabba and he felt Damia draw back to stop him from being distracted.  
  
"I told you not to admit him," The gangster-slug growled in Huttese.  
  
"I must be allowed to speak," Luke spoke quietly, though his words were heard throughout the silent hall.  
  
"He must be allowed to speak," Bib concurred thoughtfully.  
  
Jabba, furious, bashed Bib across the face and sent him reeling to the floor.  
  
"You weak minded fool! He's using an old Jedi mind trick!"  
  
Luke let all the rest of the motley horde that surrounded him melt into the recesses of his consciousness, to let Jabba fill his mind totally.  
  
"You will bring Captain Solo and the Wookie to me."  
  
Jabba smiled grimly.  
  
"Your mind powers will not work on me, boy."  
  
Damia saw Luke alter his stance slightly.  
  
"Nevertheless, I am taking Captain Solo and his friends. You can profit by this or be destroyed. It's your choice but I warn you not to underestimate my powers." Damia suddenly noticed where he was standing.  
  
"Luke, your standing on the...."  
  
"There will be no bargain, young Jedi." Jabba interrupted "I shall enjoy watching you die."  
  
Luke raised his hand. A pistol leapt out of the holster of a nearby guard and landed neatly in his palm. He swung it round to aim at Jabba.  
  
"Boscka!" Jabba spat. The floor suddenly dropped away, sending Luke and his guard crashing into the pit below. The trap door immediately closed again All the beasts of the court rushed to the floor grating and looked down.  
  
"Luke!" yelled a young woman who was similarly dressed to Damia except that she was chained to Jabba. Lando grabbed Damia's hand and tugged over to the woman. She turned and saw Lando. The recognition in her eyes was more than enough proof that the woman was part of the plan. Then as Damia brushed the others mind with her own she felt recognition and realised that here was the bounty hunter that had brought the wookie here.  
  
"Leia, meet Damia and vice versa. You two stick together." Lando whispered, then he disappeared.  
  
Leia considered the younger girl. She felt the strength and the compassionate heart and so moved over to let the other sit on the edge of the throne too.  
  
In the pit below, Luke picked himself up off the floor. He found he was now in a large cavelike dungeon, the walls pocked with craggy boulders.  
  
The half-chewed bones of countless animals were strewn across the floor, smelling of decayed flesh and twisted fear.  
  
The guard beside him suddenly started to scream uncontrollably, as a door to the side of the cave slid open.  
  
With infinite calm Luke shrugged of the robe he wore leaving him in his Jedi-fighting gear.  
  
Damia swallowed. Leia looked at her. The girl was leaning forward intently and her considering eyes followed Luke's movements.  
  
Well yes I have to leave it here. If ya actually care! Lol nah just kidding. Hope ya liked it. 


	2. Chapter 2

The True Tale of the Return of the Jedi  
  
Disclaimer: yeah mate I don't own ne thing except for the character of Damia. May I also say that this takes quotes from everywhere.  
  
Yes LadyFirehair tends to refer to my characters such as Damia and Maddy. Red-gold hair had always fascinated me and I always thought that emerald green eyes would be a nice combo.  
  
To those who were wondering im on holidays now and im so bored! I live in Sydney, Australia. I am female and really have no imagination. Lol hope you all enjoy this chapter.  
  
It's long!  
  
Oh yes  
  
(Stupid Coyote)- You reviewed! Well I hope you enjoy ROTJ wen you watch it. Just remember that Damia isn't in there. Lol. Review again wen you can mate. Thanx  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Out of the side passage emerged the giant Rancor. The size of an elephant, it was somehow reptilian, somehow as unformed as a nightmare. It had a large screeching mouth and out of proportional fangs and claws. It was clearly a mutant and as wild as all unreason. The guard picked up the pistol from the dirt where it had fallen and began firing laser bursts at the hideous monster. This only made the beast angrier. It lumbered toward the guard.  
  
The guard kept firing. Ignoring the laser bursts, the beast grabbed the hysterical guard, popped him into its slavering jaws, and crunched him into bite sized mouthfuls.  
  
Luke took this instance to look up. He saw Jabba laughing but he focused on the two faces that were in front of the disgusting gangster.  
  
Leia was biting her lip and her soft brown eyes were wide with fear. The chain around her throat held her back as she struggled to lean forward.  
  
Damia sat beside her and the sight of her sent calm confidence shooting through his body. Jabba stroked her long mane of fiery hair. He could feel the disgust from her and touched her mind gently in comfort.  
  
The monster turned then and started for Luke. But the Jedi Knight leaped eight meters straight up and grabbed onto the over head grate. The crowd began to boo. Hand over hand, Luke traversed the grating toward the corner of the cave, struggling to maintain his grip as the audience jeered his efforts. One hand slipped on the oily grid, and he dangled precariously over the baying monster.  
  
Damia's hands were over her mouth and he felt power radiating from her trying to help him.  
  
"Don't Damia!" He called to her psychically. "They will sense it!  
  
"It won't help us if you're dead Luke Skywalker." He blocked his mind to her and felt her hurt like a burning brand.  
  
Two jawas ran across the grate. They mashed Luke's fingers with their rifle butts; once again, the crowd roared its approval.  
  
The Rancor pawed at him from below, but the Jedi dangled just out of reach. Luke felt his grip loosen. He looked up into Damia's Bright eyes once more before suddenly releasing his grip.  
  
Damia screamed internally. No one heard her except for the falling Jedi. He dropped directly onto the eye of the howling monster; he then tumbled to the floor.  
  
Damia's heart pounded in her chest, fear filled her form until she sent it into the back of her mind to be used later. Now though she hung over the edge of the throne desperate to see what was happening.  
  
And yet, why was she so desperate? A day or so ago she had not known this man and yet they had achieved that which was supposed to be impossible except for two Force-sensitive lovers; mind to mind speech.  
  
The Rancor screamed in pain and stumbled, swatting it's own face to knock away the agony. It spotted Luke again and came at him. Luke stooped to pick up the long bone of an earlier victim. He brandished it before him. The gallery above thought this was hilarious and hooted in delight.  
  
The monster grabbed Luke and brought him up to its salivating mouth. Leia and Damia clutched at each other in mutual horror. At the last moment, though, Luke wedged the bone deep in the Rancor's mouth and jumped to the floor as the beast began to gag. The Rancor roared and flailed about, running headlong into a wall. Several boulders were dislodged and this started an avalanche, which nearly buried Luke as he crouched in a crevice near the wall.  
  
The Rancor meanwhile had knocked the bone from it's mouth and enraged was scrabbling through the fallen rocks searching for Luke.  
  
It knocked aside a boulder and spotted Luke recoiling in his crevice. Voraciously, it reached in to pluck the boy out. As Luke pressed against a rock and long blood caked claws reached around him a boulder rose and smashed against the claws. As the Rancor leapt up and howled in pain once more, Luke sprinted for the holding cave.  
  
He reached the doorway and ran in. Before him a heavy barred gate blocked the way. He reached it and yanked on it desperately. He could feel Damia's powers also tugging on it.  
  
"Did you lift the boulder Damia?" He asked as he turned to face his death.  
  
"Of course"! She sounded a little strained.  
  
"Save your powers, Damia and use it to get Han, Leia and the others out of here."  
  
"You're going to do that! Smash the gate controls on the far side of the cave."  
  
Luke looked around and scooped up the skull at his feet. He hurled it at the control.  
  
The panel exploded in a shower of sparks, and the giant iron overhead restraining door came crashing down on the Rancor's head, crushing it like an axe smashing through a ripe watermelon.  
  
Those in the audience above gasped as one, then were silent. They were all truly stunned at this bizarre turn of events, all except one. They all looked at Jabba, who was apoplectic with rage. Never had he felt such fury. Leia hid her delight well but Damia was unable to hide a small smile, and this increased Jabba's anger even more. His bulbous eyes slid over Damia's slim firm body with something close to greed.  
  
Luke looked up as he heard Jabba call out.  
  
"Collar this little beauty and give me the chain!" Luke saw Damia struggling in the grasp of two guards as another snapped collars and chains around her throat and wrists. Jabba dragged the girl forwards and slid a slimy sausage fingered hand down her vulumptous curves.  
  
Then harshly he snapped at the guards.  
  
"Get Skywalker out of there. Bring me Solo and the Wookiee. They shall all suffer for this outrage."  
  
In the pit below Luke struggled to keep a calm exterior as he watched the disgusting gangster fondle the scantily clad girl. Several henchmen came and clapped him in bonds and led him out.  
  
Han and Chewie were led before the steaming Jabba. Han still squinted and stumbled every few feet. C-3PO stood behind the throne feeling, unbearably apprehensive. Jabba kept Leia and Damia on a short tether, stroking the long straight dark locks of the princess and the fiery curls of the young Jedi (a/n: yes Damia is a Jedi.) to calm himself. A constant murmuring filled the room, as the rabble speculated on what was going to happen to whom.  
  
With a flurry, several guards –including Lando Calrissian- dragged a limping Luke across the room. When Luke, too, was standing before the throne, he nudged Solo with a smile.  
  
"Good to see you again, old buddy." Solo's face lit up. There seemed to be no end to the amount of friends he kept bumping into.  
  
"Luke! Are you in this mess, too?"  
  
"Wouldn't miss it," Skywalker smiled. For just a moment he almost felt like a boy again.  
  
"Well, how are we doing?" Han raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Same as always." Said Luke.  
  
"That bad huh?" Han replied under his breath. He felt 100% relaxed. Just like old times – but a seccond later a bleak thought chilled him. "Where's Leia? Is she..."  
  
Her eyes had been fixed on him from the moment he had entered the room, as though – guarding his spirit with her own. When he spoke of her now she responded instantly, calling from her place on Jabba's throne.  
  
"We're all right, but I'm not sure how much longer we can hold off your slobbering friend, here." She was intentionally cavalier, to put Solo at ease. Besides the sight of all her friends there made her feel nearly invincible. Han, Luke, Chewie, Lando – even young Damia who had turned out to be on their side. Leia almost laughed out loud, almost punched Jabba in the nose. She could barely restrain herself. She wanted to hug them all but contented her self with slipping an arm around the girl at her side.  
  
Luke's eyes were on Damia. Her eyes were on him. They were communicating in that deeper sense. The sense and bond that had been immediately formed between them.  
  
"Did he hurt you? Luke asked.  
  
"Just my pride." She replied. "Mind you I had little enough at the beginning."  
  
"You're so brave. You and Leia."  
  
Suddenly Jabba shouted, the room was immediately silent.  
  
"Talkdroid!" Timidly 3PO stepped forward and with an embarrassed, self- effacing head gesture addressed the captives.  
  
"His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated tomorrow at midday."  
  
"That's good, I hate long waits." Solo said loudly.  
  
"Your extreme offence against His Majesty, demands the most torturous form of death..."  
  
"No sense in doing things halfway." Solo cracked. Jabba could be so pompous sometimes, and now with old Goldenrod, there, making his pronouncements...  
  
"You will be taken to the Dune Sea, where you will b thrown into the Great Pit of Carkoon - "  
  
Han shrugged and then turned to Luke.  
  
"That doesn't sound to bad."  
  
"... The resting-place of the all-powerful Sarlacc. In his belly you will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as you are slowly digest for a thousand years."  
  
"On seccond thought we could pass on that." Solo reconsidered. A thousand years was a bit much.  
  
Chewie barked his whole-hearted agreement.  
  
Luke only smiled.  
  
"You should have bargained Jabba." He cried as he was let away. "This is the last mistake you'll ever make." He winced slightly as his foot jarred. He must have injured it worse than he had expected. That wasn't good.  
  
Damia turned to Jabba and bowed slightly.  
  
"May I have the honour of serving the prisoners your Highness?" she asked, her voice as smooth as honey.  
  
Jabba grinned.  
  
"Of course my lovely. Torture them with a beauty they will never hold."  
  
His hands caressed her once more before she slid from the throne and slipped away. Lando caught up her chains at a sign from Jabba, and followed.  
  
Luke and his friends sat in a dark cell with only a sliver of moonlight illuminating the room. All of them were chained to the walls.  
  
"This isn't good kid." Solo told his young friend.  
  
Luke smirked inwardly.  
  
"It'll be fine Han."  
  
Suddenly the cell door creaked open and into the room came Damia bearing a tray with food and water on it. Lando followed, loosely holding her chains.  
  
"Who is it?" whispered Han. "I still can't see."  
  
"It will take another 12 hours for sight to fully return, Captain Solo." Damia murmured. She placed the tray down before them where they could reach.  
  
Luke caught her wrist.  
  
"Why are you here?"  
  
"And who are you?" Han added, with mouth half full with food.  
  
Damia sat back on her heels and considered.  
  
"Do you want to know?" she asked. Luke and Han nodded. "I am Damia Thanach. I used to live on the planet of Mortha far away from here. There was a Jedi who lived in hiding there called Liv'inek. She raised me and trained me to be a Jedi but when I was 17 Stormtroopers came and murdered her. I escaped through the secret entrance. I lived there in the spaceport of Mas Leis until one day I smuggled my way aboard a cruiser and when I felt we were far enough away I slipped into an escape pod and ended up here on Tatooine. One of Jabba's cronies found me and I've been here almost a year."  
  
Luke sighed.  
  
"A hard life." Han nodded. He too felt saddened about the girl's life. A life without friendship or love and full of the rigorous training of a Jedi and suffering.  
  
Damia smiled wanly.  
  
"Not too bad."  
  
Han signalled Lando over and the two sat and talked with chewie in low voices.  
  
Damia gave Luke his bowl of gruel and beaker of water. He winced and sucked in a breath as his ankle shifted.  
  
"I thought you were limping." She said. "Here let me look." She gently tugged his black boot off and examined the swollen discoloured ankle. Luke bit his lip and sent the pain to an open outlet. He saw Damia wince and realised that the outlet had been her mind.  
  
"Oh sorry." He exclaimed quickly. She fended off his attempts to retrieve the pain.  
  
"It's ok." She placed cool fingers on the ankle and slowly Luke felt the pain fade with the colouring and swelling. Soon his ankle was back to normal.  
  
Luke moved as close to Damia as he could.  
  
"You are a Jedi?"  
  
"Aye." She whispered back. He looked deep into her eyes and saw there something that words can never express. A longing for acceptance and love. "Lando said that it was your choice wether or not to take me with you when you escaped. Will you?" She lowered her eyes.  
  
He tilted her chin back up.  
  
"Of course we shall." A smile crept across her face.  
  
Lando looked up and saw the two of them sitting staring deeply into each other's eyes and smiled. Luke needed a girl and this Damia was a perfect match for him.  
  
Jabba's giant antigravity Sail Barge glided slowly over the endless Dune Sea. It's sand blasted iron hull creaked in the slight breeze, each puff off wind coughing into two huge sails as if even nature suffered some terminal malaise whenever it came near Jabba.  
  
Alongside the barge, two small skiffs floated in formation – one an escort craft, bearing the prisoners: Han, Chewie and Luke. The other, a gun skiff contained 6 scruffy soldiers.  
  
"I think my sight is getting better," Han informed Luke, squinting across the sand, "Instead of a big dark blur I can see a big light blur."  
  
"Believe me, you're not missing anything." Luke smiled. "I grew up here."  
  
"You're gunna die here too. Convenient."  
  
"I wasn't planning on it." Luke murmured.  
  
"If this is your big plan, so far I'm not crazy about it."  
  
"Jabba's palace was too well guarded. I had to get you out of there. Just stay close to Chewie and Lando. I'll take care of everything." Luke sounded confident.  
  
"I can hardly wait." Solo had a sinking feeling this grand escape depended on Luke's thinking he was a Jedi – a questionable premise at best, considering it was a extinct brotherhood that had used a Force he didn't believe in anyway. A fast ship and a good blaster are what Solo believed in and he wished he had them now.  
  
Jabba sat in the main cabin of the Sail barge, surrounded by his entire retinue.  
  
His ugly bulbous eyes scanned the crowd and he suddenly spotted the beautiful Damia watching out of a window, watching the skiff with her rescuers on it.  
  
Luke sensed her standing there and he looked up at her. He could also feel Jabba's lust for the slim female Jedi and this made him feel, jealous?  
  
Jabba tugged, with his swollen fingers, on the chain attached to Damia' neck. The more resistance he met with, the more he drooled – until he had drawn the struggling, scantily-clad Jedi close to him once more.  
  
"Don't stray too far, my lovely. Soon you will begin to appreciate me." He pulled her very near and forced her to drink from his glass.  
  
Luke felt her open her mouth and close her mind. He could feel her disgust and horror at the gangster-slug's touch.  
  
She slid a few feet away from Jabba, when he was distracted, and moved to a louvered window beside Leia, who placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and squinted back down at their skiff again.  
  
It was stopping.  
  
The whole convey was stopping, in fact, over a huge sand pit. The Sail Barge moved to one side of the giant depression, with the escort skiff. The prisoner's skiff hovered over the pit.  
  
At the bottom of the deep cone of sand, a repulsive, mucus-lined, pink, membranous hole puckered, almost unmoving. The hole was eight feet in diameter, its perimeter clustered with three rows of inwardly directed needle-sharp teeth. Sand stuck to the mucus that lined the sides of the opening, occasionally sliding into the black cavity at the centre.  
  
This was the mouth of the Sarlacc.  
  
An iron plank was extended over the side of the prisoners' skiff. Two guards untied Luke's bonds and shoved him roughly out onto the plank, straight above the orifice in the sand, now beginning to undulate in peristaltic movement and salivate with increased mucus secretion as ut smelt the meat it was about to receive.  
  
Luke rubbed his wrists to restore circulation. He saw Leia standing on the rail of the Sail Barge and winked. She winked back. His eyes moved on to rest on the figure beside Leia. He blew her a subtle kiss and saw a bright pink flush stain her cheeks. He grinned.  
  
"Stop flirting Skywalker" she stuttered.  
  
Jabba motioned 3PO to his side, then mumbled orders to the golden droid. 3PO stepped up to the comlink. Jabba raised his arms, and the whole motley army of intergalactic pirates fell silent.  
  
"His Excellency hopes you will die honourably. But should any of you wish to beg for mercy, Jabba will now listen to your pleas." C-3PO announced.  
  
Damia considered. Would Jabba save Luke if she begged? If she offered herself to his loathsome touch? Luke sensed her thoughts.  
  
"Don't even think about it Damia! You will never suffer at his hands again! I promise you that!" His impassioned outburst made her eyes fill with gladness.  
  
"Thank you, Skywalker"  
  
"Luke, Damia. Call me Luke."  
  
Han stepped forward to give the bloated slime-pot his last thoughts in case all else failed.  
  
"3PO! You tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden, filth that he will get no such satisfaction from us."  
  
Chewie made a few growly noises of general agreement.  
  
Luke was ready.  
  
"Jabba, this is your last chance," he shouted. "Free us or die."  
  
The monsters on the barge roared with laughter. During this commotion R2-D2 rolled silently up the ramp to the side of the upper deck. Jabba raised his hand and his minions were quiet once more.  
  
"I'm sure you're right, my young Jedi friend," he smiled. Then he turned his thumb down. "Put him in!"  
  
The spectators cheered, as Luke was prodded to the edge of the plank by one of the guards. Luke looked up at R2, standing alone by the rail, and flipped the little droid a jaunty salute. At that prearranged signal, a flap slid open in R2's domed head, and a projectile shot high into the air and curved into a gentle arc over the desert.  
  
Luke jumped off the plank; another bloodthirsty cheer went up. In less than a seccond, though, Luke had spun in freefall, and caught the end of the plank with his fingertips. The thin metal bent wildly from his weight, paused near to snapping, then catapulted him up. In mid-air he somersaulted and landed neatly beside his friends. Casually, he extended his arm, palm up – and suddenly, his Lightsaber, which R2 had fired, dropped neatly into his palm.  
  
With Jedi speed, Luke ignited his sword and attacked the guard at the skiff's edge and sent his screaming down into the twitching mouth of the Sarlacc.  
  
The other guards swarmed around Luke. Grimly he waded into them, Lightsaber flashing.  
  
His own Lightsaber. Luke had fashioned it himself, in Obi-wan Kenobi's abandoned hut on the other side of Tatooine – made with the old masters tools and with love, care and dire need. It moved now as though it were an extension of his arm. This Lightsaber truly was Luke's.  
  
Guards stumbled back at Luke's vicious onslaught. One stumbled over board and landed in the sand near the opening to the Sarlacc's mouth. A tentacle reached up out of the whole and yanked him down into the hole with a gruesome slurp.  
  
All this happened in a matter of seconds. When he saw what was happening, Jabba exploded in a rage and yelled furious commands at those around him. In a moment there was general uproar with people running through every door they could.  
  
It was during this directionless confusion that Leia and Damia acted.  
  
They jumped onto Jabba's throne, grabbed the chain which enslaved them and wrapped it around his bulbous throat. Then the two young women dove to opposite sides of the throne and heaved. The small metal rings buried themselves in the loose folds of the Hutt's neck like a garrotte.  
  
With strength beyond their own strength, they pulled. He bucked with his huge torso, nearly breaking their fingers, nearly yanking their arms from their sockets. He could get no leverage; his bulk was too unwieldy. But just his sheer mass was almost enough to break any mere physical restraint.  
  
Yet Damia's and Leia's hold was not merely physical. Damia closed her eyes, closed out the pain in her hands and focused all her life-force into squeezing the life out of the horrid creature. Dimly she felt Luke throw power into her through their bond.  
  
They pulled, they sweated, and they visualised the chains digging millimetre by millimetre into Jabba's windpipe –as Jabba wildly thrashed, frantically twisted from these least expected of foes.  
  
With a last gasping effort, Jabba tensed every muscle and lurched forward. His reptilian eyes began to bulge from their sockets as the chains tightened; his oily tongue flopped from his mouth. His thick tail twitched in spasms of effort, until he finally lay still – deadweight.  
  
Leia and Damia set about trying to free themselves from the chains at their necks, while outside, the battle began to rage.  
  
Boba Fett ignited his rocket pack and landed on the skiff right behind Luke. He raised his laser pistol to shoot Luke, but the young Jedi spun around and that sliced the bounty hunter's gun in half.  
  
A series of blasts suddenly erupted from the large cannon on the upper deck of the barge, hitting the skiff broadside, and rocking it forty degrees askew. Lando was tossed from the deck, but at the last moment he grabbed a broken strut and dangled desperately above the Sarlacc.  
  
The skiff took another direct hit from the barge's deck gun, throwing Chewie and Han against the rail. Wounded, the Wookiee howled in pain. Luke looked over at his hairy friend; whereupon Boba Fett, taking advantage of that moment of distraction, fired a cable from out of his armoured sleeve.  
  
The cable wrapped itself several times around Luke, pinning his arms to his sides, his sword arm now only free from the wrist down. He bent his wrist, so the Lightsaber pointed straight up ... and then spun toward Boba along the cable. In a moment, the Lightsaber touched the end of the wire lasso, cutting through it instantly. Luke shrugged the cable away, just as another blast hit the skiff, knocking Boba unconscious to the deck. Unfortunately this explosion also dislodged the strut from which Lando was hanging, sending him careening into the Sarlacc pit.  
  
Luke was shaken by the explosion, but unhurt. Lando hit the sandy slope, shouted for help, and tried to scramble out. The loose sand only tumbled him deeper toward the gaping hole.  
  
"Don't move!" Luke screamed, but the incoming seccond skiff full of guards firing their weapons immediately diverted his attention.  
  
Luke jumped directly into the center of the skiff and immediately began decimateing them in their midst with lightning sweeps of his Lightsaber.  
  
Luke finished going through his adverseries on the seccond skiff, assesed the problem quickly, and leaped across the chasm of sand to the sheer metal side of the Huge barge. Slowly, he began a hand-over-hand climb up the hull, toward the deck gun.  
  
Meanwhile, inside the barge, Leia and Damia had been intermittently struggling to breake the chain which bound them to the dead gangster, and hiding behind his massive carcass whenever some guard ran by. Leia stretched her full length, now, trying to retrieve a discarded laser pistol – to no avail. Damia was sitting on the throne, eyes closed, and was sweeping her mind around trying to find where her own Lightsaber was.  
  
Finally she found it and called it to her hand. She grinned and opened her eyes. Fortunately for Leia, R2 had come to her rescue. He zipped up to her finally, extended a cutting appendage from the side of his casing and sliced through her bonds.  
  
"Thanks R2, good work. Now lets get out of here." The droid and princess raced for the door totally forgetting about the young Jedi behind them.  
  
Damia sighed.  
  
She ignited a beautiful indigo coloured Lightsaber and severed her chains cleanly.  
  
She took off at a run.  
  
Up on the deck.  
  
Luke turned and noticed a deck gunner lineing the living chain, consisting of Han and Chewie trying to reach Lando, in his sights. He ran for them but felt his stomach drop as he realised he wouldn't reach it in time.  
  
Suddenly Damia burst out of a door, Lightsaber flashing. The gunners looked up to see the former slave girl swinging her glowing sword at them. It was the last thing they saw. Next seccond they were smoking corpses.  
  
Leia came out of another door, the two droids following her. She grabbed onto a rope and swung down to the escort skiff. R2 and 3PO glanced around and backed into the doorway again.  
  
A company of guards ran up the stairs from the lower decks, firing. One of the blasts shot Luke's Lightsaber from his hand. He ran down the deck but was quickly surrounded. Two of the soldiers manned the deck gun again. Luke looked at his hand, the wrist mechanism was exposed – the complex steel-and- circuit construction that replaced his real hand and wrist, which Vader had cut off in their last encounter.  
  
He flexed the mechanisim; it still worked.  
  
The deck gunners fired at the skiff below. It hit the side of the small boat. They realigned their sights for the final kill, but it was all over for them before they could fire – Damia had commandeered the seccond deck gun at the other end of the ship. With her first shot she blasted the rigging in between the two guns. Wit her seccond shot she wiped out the first deck gun.  
  
The explosions rocked the great barge distracting the five guards who surrunded Luke. In that moment he reached out his hand and the Lightsaber, lying on the deck ten feet away, flew into it. He leaped straight up as two guards fired at him – their laser bolts killed each other. He ignited his blade in the air and, by swinging it as he came down, mortally wounded the others.  
  
He yelled at Damia across the deck.  
  
"Point it down!" She tilted the gun into the deck and nodded tot he two droids who wer now standing at the rail.  
  
As the two droids tumbled over the edge of the barge Damia glaced over to see what was happening on the prisoner skiff. Leia was steering the escort skiff over to the other and the others were climbing aboard. She sighed with relief. They were all alright.  
  
More guards were spilling up onto the deck and Damia watched as Luke raced over to her.  
  
Han glanced over at the sail barge, anxious for Luke and that Damia, girl. His sight was perfectly back to normal now and he could se the masses of guards swarming up to the decks. Even two Jedi-knights couldn't combat that.  
  
Luke, meantime, gathered Damia up in his left arm, with his right he grabbed a hold of a rope from th rigging of the half blown mast, and with his foot he kicked the trigger of the gun – and jumped into the air as the cannon exploded into the deck.  
  
In that seccond just before they swooped down to the escort skiff to join their friends Damia's arms wrapped around his neck and their eyes met, blue and green.  
  
The two of them swung on the swaying rope all the way down to the skiff and were grabbed by their friends before they were yanked back.  
  
The Sail Barge continued exploding behind them. Half of it was now on fire.  
  
Luke guided the skiff around bedside the barge to where C-3PO's feet could be seen sticking straight up. Beside it R2's little periscope could be seen. It disappered as Damia manipulated a large electromagnet to be lowered above them. With a loud clang the two droids shot up out of the sand and locked to the magnets plate.  
  
In a few moments the two of them were aboard and for the first time they all looked at one another and realized that they were all in the skiff together, more or less in one piece. There was a great, long moment of hugging, laughing, crying and beeping. Damia stood to the side and watched them all with a small smile, ocassionly fiddling with knobs or gauges as she steered them away from the exploding fireball that used to be the sail barge. Luke looked up and saw her, so alone, and made his way over to her. Slowly he led her into the circle of friendship.  
  
"Everyone this is Damia." Lando was the first to hug her.  
  
"Welcome to our small group of daredevils Damia." He said with a wink. Leia was next.  
  
"It will be nice to have another woman around."  
  
Damia smiled.  
  
The sandstorm obscured everything –sight, breath, thought, motion. The roar of it alone was disorienting sounding like it came from everywhere at once.  
  
The eight heroes walked step by step through the murky gale, holding onto one another so as not to get lost. R2 was first with 3PO at his side, following the signal of the ships. Next was Lando supporting the hobbling wookiee, then Leia leading Han and at the rear was Luke and Damia. Leia had on a covering which protected her skin from the biting sandy wind. Damia however had no such covering and although Luke was trying to help sheild her with his own her skin was becoming chaffed.  
  
"How much further!" he bellowed at Han and Leia who were just ahead of them.  
  
"I don't know," shouted Han. "All I can see is a lot of blowing sand."  
  
"That's all any of us can see," Leia yelled back.  
  
"Then I guess I'm getting better."  
  
R2 suddenly beeped loudly, and they all looked up: vague dark shapes could be seen through the typhoon. For a few steps, the dark shapes grew darker; and then out of the darkness, the Millennium Falcon flanked by a one seater X-wing and a two seater Y-wing. As soon as the group huddled under the bulk of the Falcon, the wind died down to something more describable as severe weather conditions. 3PO hit a switch and the gangplank lowered with a hum.  
  
Solo turned to Skywalker.  
  
"I've got to hand it to you, kid, you were pretty good out there." Luke shrugged it off.  
  
"I had a lot of help." He started towards the X-wing. Han stopped him.  
  
"Thanks for coming after me, Luke."  
  
Luke felt embarrassed for some reason. He didn't know how to respond to anything but a wisecrack from the former pirate.  
  
"Think nothin' of it." He finally said. Han nodded but Luke knew that his friend was no longer the solitary villain he used to be. And Luke also knew that Han was now a part of the whole. No longer alone.  
  
Chewie growled affectionately at the young Jedi, mussing his hair like a proud uncle. And Leia warmly hugged him.  
  
They all had great love for Solo but, somehow, it was easier to show it by being demonstrative to Luke.  
  
"I'll see you back at the fleet," Luke called, moving toward his ship.  
  
"Why don't you leave that crate and come with us?" Solo nudged.  
  
"I have a promise to keep first ... to an old friend." A very old friend, he smiled to himself in an afterthought.  
  
"Well, hurry back," Leia urged. "The entire alliance should be assembled by now."  
  
"I will," he promised. "Come on R2"  
  
Damia turned to follow Han, Lando, Chewie, 3PO and Leia into the Falcon but was halted by Luke's hand on her arm. She turned. He gazed down at her with a peculiar instensity.  
  
"I wish you could come with me," He whispered. "but the X-wing is a one seater and the Y-wing has a bad transmitter."  
  
"It's ok." She whispered back. He began to walk away again but turned around again at a thought.  
  
"Are you my partner now, Damia Thanach? You're my Jedi-partner?" He asked with a grin. She smiled back and waved.  
  
"You bet, Luke! See you soon."  
  
She walked up the ramp into the Milennium Falcon and sat down in the main hold beside Leia who had decided to keep the young Jedi-warrior company.  
  
The engines rose to a roar and the two Ships rose up and blasted off the planet of Tatooine.  
  
Please R&R mates! 


	3. Chapter 3

My reviwers i thank

Lady Knight19, Lady of the Elements, Alatira-Intelar

**Chapter 3**

Hundreds of Rebel commanders, of all species and lifeforms, assembled in the war room of the giant Star Cruiser, The Headquarters Frigate, awaiting orders from the High Command. Rumours were everywhere, and an excitement spread from squadron to squadron.

At the centre of the briefing room was a large, circular light-table, projected above which was a holographic image of the unfinished Imperial Death Star hovered beside the moon of Endor.

Lando Calrissian made his way through the crowd, now, scanning faces. He saw Wedge who was to be his wing pilot- they nodded at each other, gave the thumbs-up sign; but then Lando moved on. Wedge wasn't the one he was looking for. He made it to a clearing near the centre, peered around, finally saw his friends standing by a side door. He smiled and wandered over.

Han, Chewie, Leia and the two droids greeted Lando's appearance with a cacophony of cheers, laughs, beeps and barks. Lando briefly wondered where Damia was but was distracted by Han.

"Well look at you," Solo chided, straightening the lapel of Calrissian's new uniform and pulling on the insignias. "A General!"

Lando laughed affectionately.

"Someone must have told them about my maneuver at the battle of Taanab." He teased, knowing full well who it had been.

Han opened his eyes wide with sarcasm.

"Hey, don't look at me. I just told them that you were a 'fair' pilot. I had no idea that they were looking for a person to lead this crazy attack."

Lando smirked.

"I'm surprised that they didn't ask you to do it," he replied.

"Who says they didn't." Han intimated. "But I'm not crazy. You're the respectable one remember?"

Leia moved closer to Solo and took his arm protectively.

"Han is going to stay on the Command ship with me ... we're both very grateful for what you're doing Lando. And proud."

A signal sounded and the lights dimmed. Leia frowned. Where was Damia?

&

Damia wandered restlessly through the Headquarters Frigate, examining and memorising. When the Milenium Falcon had landed, Leia had sent her to another adjoining ship to be outfitted. At first they had given her a loose pale blue tunic and brown breeches, but when they had discovered that she was a Jedi they had rushed her into the back and given her a fight suit made of a PVC material. It was black and shiny and it clung to her form nicely. A utility belt was attached and she clipped her lightsaber to it. Now she felt like a Jedi, more that she had when she had been conceled in Jabba's skimpy idea of female clothing. Smiling the taylors gave her one last thing, a bandanna to hide her vivid blazing Red-gold hair. She thanked them all profusely but was soon ushered off to a woman who made boots.

Damia's boots were made of a soft, flexible but strong leather and were silent as a padded cats paw.

After this Damia remembered Leia's instructions.

"After they have kitted you out come to the briefing room. A Jedi would be much appreciated."

But Damia didn't want to go to the briefing. As far as she was concerned she wasn't part of the rebellion yet and plus it wouldn't be right without Luke.

So she wandered until she came to a X-wing flight simulator. A man was there fixing the control panel and looking bored.

"Hey there," he called out to her. "You heading off to the briefing?"

"No," Damia called back. "Just wandering."

"You one of the new pilots?"

Damia considered.

"I'm not sure. I've never flown a X-wing or a Y-wing."

He caught sight of her Lightsaber hilt.

"Well if you're a Jedi then you ought to have no problems. Here, try out the sim." Cautiously Damia climbed in and pulled the shade.

"Initiating control." The man's voice was electonic now.

Suddenly she looked as though she were in a snub fighter X-wing. Her hands flew out and she flicked a few switches before she even thought. The Force flowed through her as she manipulated the guns and controls to wipe out an entire convoy of TIE fighters. When the last of them exploded, Damia was yanked back into reality by the sim finishing.

&

Luke landed smoothly still mulling over his visit to Dagobah. He leapt out and moved to head towards the main briefing room when a part of his mind tugged him over towards the other side of the hanger, where the flight simulators were.

Suprisingly one was activated and he watched intrigued on the outside screen at the battle unfolding.

The pilot was unbelievable. Almost too good to be true. They annihalated a whole TIE squad. Soon the simulation round ended and the cover was swept back to reveal Damia in all her triumphant glory.

His mouth dropped open slightly at how gorgeus she loked in that suit. Her hair was loose and cascaded down her back, contrasting vividly with the shiny black of her suit.

She slid down the ladder and into his arms with a exuberant hug.

"Luke!" she cried.

He held her and grinned down into her eyes.

Then the sim began broadcasting her results.

"Flight level –7" Luke gasped. 7 was the highest level. "Kills-54, accuracy-98%, Deaths-0."

Luke was so surprised he nearly keeled over backwards.

The technician stuck his head out gazing incredulusly at the girl-jedi.

"And you've never flown one of these before? What you could do with practice!"

&

Leia was starting to feel a little panicky that Damia hadn't turned up yet. If she was anything like Luke then she might be doing something very rash or very stupid or both.

Mon Mothma, the elected leader had finished and was giving up the stage to Admiral Ackbar. He stepped forward. His speciality was Imperial defence procedures. He raised his fin and pointed it at the holographic force field now emanating from Endor.

"Although uncompleted, the Death Star is not without a defence mechanism. It is protected by a high energy sheild which is generated from the nearby moon. No ship can fly through it, no weapon can penertrate it. The sheild must be de-activated if any attack is to be made."

For the first time in her life Leia tuned out. She used the force as Luke had once instructed her and felt out for the two Jedi. She caught Luke's prescence at the flight simulators. Beside him was a lighthouse of Force power, so strong that it nearly blinded her force senses. She pulled back into herself as General Madine , head of covert operations.

"We have acquired a small imperial shuttle," Madine declared smugly. "Under this guise a strike team will land on the moon and de-activate the sheild generator. The control bunker is well guarded but a small team should be able to penetrate it's security."

This news stimulated yet another round of general mumbling.

Leia turned to Han.

"I wonder who they found to pull that off." She murmured, softly, missing the uncomfortable look on his face. Madine called out over the hubbub.

"General Solo. Is your Strike team assembled?"

Leia was shocked. Han shifted gave her a guilty look then answered the General.

"My strike teams assembled all I need now is a command crew for the shuttle." Chewie growled. "Hey it's going to be rough pal I didn't want to count you in." Chewie raised his hand. "That's one!" Han said with a grin.

"Heres two." Yelled Leia, Han gave her a smile of pure joy before....

"We're with you too."

At the top of the stairs stood Luke Skywalker and with him was Damia Thanach.


	4. Chapter 4

**The True Tale of the Return of the Jedi**

Chapter 4

The Millennium Falcon rested in the docking bay of the Rebel Star Cruiser, getting loaded and serviced. Just beyond it sat the stolen imperial shuttle, looking anomalous in the midst of the Rebel X-wing fighters.

Chewie supervised the final transfer of weapons and supplies to the shuttle and oversaw Leia's placement of the strike team. Han stood with Lando in between pons and supplies to the shuttle and oversaw Leia's placement of the strike team. Han stood with Lando in between the two ships, saying goodbye – for all they knew, forever.

Damia Thanach was up in the shuttle with Luke. She was fiddling with the superior communications array, little frown lines etched faintly into her forehead as she concentrated on the wires, levers and knobs to plot in the Imperial shield de-activation code. Luke was doing some fine-tuning on a rear navigation panel. Damia swore as her fingers slipped and a wire sent a jolt through her. Her hair curled even more tightly. Luke turned.

"You ok?"

The young Jedi stuck her tingling finger into her mouth, scowling in self-scorn.

"No need to fuss, Skywalker." She snapped. Instantly she regretted her waspishness as she caught Luke's hurt look. She touched his shoulder, wincing as electricity jumped between the pair. He looked down into her eyes and saw her genuine apology for her meanness. He pulled her into a one armed hug and kissed her forehead.

They heard footsteps and when Han and Chewie entered the cockpit, the two were back at their original tasks.

Chewie moved to the Co-pilots chair and began to figure out the strange Imperial controls. Han took the pilot's chair, and Chewie growled grumpily about design.

"Yeah, yeah." Solo answered, "I don't think the Empire designed it with a wookie in mind, Chewie."

Leia walked in from the hold, taking her seat behind Chewie.

"We're all set back there."

Damia silently slipped into her seat beside the communications array and strapped herself in. Luke turned and smiled at her. His smoky camouflage cover made his eyes glitter. His hair was smoothed down and Damia decided that she preferred it scruffy looking. She grinned back.

Meanwhile Chewie hit the first sequence of switches. He looked over at Solo, but Han was motionless, staring out the window at something. Chewie and Leia both followed his gaze to the object of his unyielding attention – the Millennium Falcon.

Leia gently nudged the pilot.

"Hey, you awake up there?"

"I just got a funny feeling," Han mused. "Like im never going to see her again."

Damia and Luke both turned at this saddened by the thought of one without the other.

Chewbacca, hearing Han's melancholy prediction took his own longing look at the Falcon.

Leia put her hand on Solo's shoulder. They all knew that Han had a special love for his ship but she also knew that although she hated to break up this last communion time was dear and becoming dearer.

"Come on, captain," she whispered. "Let's move."

Han snapped back to the moment.

"Right. Okay, Chewie, let's find out what this baby can do."

They fired up the engines in the stolen shuttle, eased out of the docking bay, and banked off into the endless night.

&

The shuttle moved forward towards the massive, partially completed Death Star. Damia gasped in awe. She was the only person in that shuttle who had not already seen a Death Star, and this one was much bigger than the original one that Luke had blown up.

"Ok people here we go." Han murmured. "Damia, you ready?"

The young girl swivelled to her communications panel. Her fingers flew over the knobs and levers to whip up a link to the Imperial Command. She caught the signal and gave thumbs up to Han.

"Shuttle to Control, please come in." Han spoke officially into the comm set.

"We have you on our screen now," the controller replied, voice masked with static. "Please identify."

"This is Shuttle Tydirium, requesting deactivation of the deflector shield."

"Shuttle Tydirium, transmit the clearance code for shield passage."

Han threw a worried look at Chewie, Leia and Leia before glancing at Damia in confirmation.

"Transmission commencing." He spoke.

Damia flipped a bank of switches, producing a syncopated series of high-frequency transmission noises.

Leia bit her lip, bracing herself for fight or flight.

"Now we find out if that code was worth the price we paid."

Chewie whined nervously.

Luke meshed his mind with Damia's, let her feel what he was feeling.

They stared at the huge Super Star Destroyer that loomed everywhere in front of them, filled their vision like a malignant cataract – but it made more than their vision opaque. It filled their mind with blackness, too; and Damia felt it in Luke's heart and he in hers. Black fear, and a special knowing.

"Vader is on that ship." The two whispered at the same time.

"You're both just jittery, is all." Han reassured them all. "There are lots of command ships. But Chewie." He cautioned, "let's keep our distance, without looking like we're keeping our distance."

Chewie barked a question.

"I don't know – fly casual." Han barked back.

"They're taking a long time with that code clearance," Leia said tightly.

What if it didn't work? The Alliance could do nothing if the Empire's deflector shield remained functioning. Leia tried to clear her mind, tried to focus on the shield generator she wanted to reach, tried to weed away the feelings of doubt or fear she may have been giving off.

"I'm endangering the mission," Luke spoke now, in a kind of emotional resonance with his partner. His and her thoughts, still linked were of Vader, though; his father. "I shouldn't have come."

Han tried to buoy things up.

"Hey, why don't we try to remain optimistic about this, eh?" He felt beleaguered by negativity."

"He knows Damia and I are here. He wants us, the last of the Jedi." Luke avowed. The two Jedi kept staring at the command ship out the view window. It seemed to taunt him. It awaited

"Come on, kid, you're imagining things."

Chewie growled.

Even he was grim.

"Shuttle Tydirium, what is your cargo and destination?"

"Parts and technical personnel for the Sanctuary Moon."

The group waited tensely. The more questions they were asked about things like cargo and destination, the more likely it seemed they were going to blow their cover.

Han looked fondly at his old wookie partner.

"Chewie if they don't go for this, we're gonna have to beat it quick."

It was a goodbye speech really: they all knew this pokey shuttle wasn't about to outrun anything in the neighbourhood.

Luke turned to Damia. In his eyes it seemed as though he was telling her everything words could never say. Things that he didn't even know. She felt his emotions. His memories became her memories, Her memories became his.

He felt her longing, for a free life, a life full of laughter, love and life.

In that instant the minds of the two Jedi became even more fused.

&

A few very tense minutes later the static voice of the controller broke up and then came in clearly over the comlink.

"Shuttle Tydirium deactivation of the shield will commence immediately. Follow your present course."

Everyone except Luke and Damia exhaled in simultaneous relief, as if the trouble was over instead of just beginning. The two Jedi continued to stare at the command ship, as if engaged in some complex three-way dialogue.

Chewie barked loudly.

"Hey what did I tell you?" Han grinned. "No Sweat."

Leia smiled affectionately.

"Is that what you told us?"

Solo pushed the throttle forward, and the stolen shuttle moved smoothly toward the green Sanctuary Moon.


	5. Chapter 5

**The True Tale of the Return of the Jedi**

Chapter 5

The trees of Endor stood a thousand feet tall. Their trunks, covered with shaggy, rust bark, rose straight as a pillar, some of them as big around as a house, some as thin as a leg. Their foliage was spindly, but lush green in colour, scattering the sunlight in delicate blue-green patterns over the forest floor.

The stolen Imperial shuttle sat in a clearing many miles from the Imperial landing platform, camouflaged with a blanket of dead branches, leaves and mulch. In addition the little ship was thoroughly dwarfed by the towering trees. Its steely hull might have looked incongruous here, had it not been so totally inconspicuous.

On the hill adjacent to the clearing, the Rebel contingent was just beginning to make its way up a steep trail. Leia, Chewie, Han and Luke led the way, followed in single file by the raggedly, helmeted squad of the strike team. They made their way silently up the forest path. They were everyone more alert than they had ever been.

R2 and C3PO followed by the ever-watchful Damia brought up the rear of the brigade. R2 beeped a comment to C3PO.

"No, I don't think it's pretty here," his golden companion replied testily, "With our luck, it's probably inhabited by a droid-eating monsters."

"Come on guys, shush!" Damia said, fighting not to smile. A trooper turned around and glared at the two droids.

3PO turned back to R2 and whispered,

"Quiet R2."

They were all a bit nervous.

Up ahead, Chewie and Leia reached the crest of the hill. They dropped to the ground, crawled the last few feet, and peered over the edge. Chewbacca raised his great paw, signalling the rest of the group to stop.

All at once, the forest seemed to become much more silent. Luke and Han crawled forward on their bellies, to view what the others were observing.

Luke turned and signalled for Damia to join them. She lightly ran through the forest and appeared like a shadow beside Luke. Swiping his macro-binoculars she trained them though the forest. Pointing through the ferns,

Chewie and Leia cautioned stealth.

Not far below, in a glen beside a clear pool, three Imperial scouts had set up a temporary camp. They were fixing a meal of temporary rations and were preoccupied with warming it over a portable cooker. Six speeder bikes were parked nearby.

"Should we go round?" whispered Leia.

"It'll take time." Luke shook his head.

Han peeked from behind a rock.

"Yeah, and if they see us and report, this whole party's for nothing."

"Is it just the two of them?" Leia sounded sceptical.

Damia realised that the others could only see two of the bikes. She opened her mouth. The shut it. Her eyesight was pretty bad. Maybe she was wrong.

"Let's take a look." Luke smiled, with a sigh of tension about to be released; they all responded with similar grins.

It was the beginning.

Leia motioned the rest of the squad to remain where they were; then she, Luke, Han, Chewie and Damia quietly edged closer to the scout camp.

When they were quite near the clearing, but still covered by underbrush, Solo slid quickly to the lead position.

"Stay here." He rasped "Chewie and I will take care of this." He flashed them his best roguish smile.

"Quietly." Warned Luke, not noticing Damia disappear like fog into the shadows. "There might be - "

But before he could finish, Han jumped up with his furry partner and rushed into the clearing

"– More out there." Luke finished speaking to himself. He looked over at Leia.

She shrugged.

"What'd you expect?" Some things never changed.

Before Luke could respond, though, they were distracted by a loud commotion in the glen. They flattened to the ground and watched.

Han was engaged in a rousing fistfight with one of the scouts – he hadn't looked so happy in days. The other scout jumped on his bike to escape, but Damia loosed a few shots with her laser pistol, from where she was hiding beside the bikes. The ill-fated scout crashed instantly against an enormous tree; a brief muffled explosion followed.

Leia drew her own laser pistol and raced into the battle zone, followed closely by Luke. As soon as they were running clear, though, several large laser blasts went off all around them tumbling them to the ground. Damia returning fire on their unseen attackers saved the two.

Dazed, they both looked up to see three more Imperial scouts emerge from the far side of the clearing, heading for their speeder bikes hidden by the peripheral foliage. Damia continued to fire but soon she ran out.

"Damn!" she cursed. Next seccond two of the scouts had mounted their bikes, but the third paused and turned to the young Jedi sprawled on the ground. He raised his gun and fired.

&

Leia staggered to her feet, her eyes following the two fleeing scouts.

"Over there, two more of them!"

"I see 'em," answered Luke, rising. "Stay here."

But Leia had ideas of her own. She ran to one of the remaining bikes not noticing the remaining scout who ducked behind his own bike, charged it up and took off in pursuit of the fleeing scouts. As she tore past Luke, he jumped up behind her on the bike, and off they flew.

The last scout revved up his bike and took off. Damia breathed again as he disappeared. She mounted the last bike and sped off in pursuit.

Quickly she flicked her centre switch jamming her prey's comlink.

As she soared out of the clearing after her Imperial, Han and Chewie were subduing the last scout.

"Hey wait!" Solo shouted, but she was gone. He threw his weapon to the ground in frustration, and the rest of the Rebel commando squad poured over the ridge into the clearing.

&

Damia sped through the dense foliage, a few feet of the ground. The escaping Imperial scouts had a good lead, but at two hundred miles per hour, Damia was the better pilot – the talent ran in her family.

She let off a burst from the speeder's laser cannon periodically, but was still too far behind to be very accurate. The explosions hit away from the moving targets, splintering trees and setting the shubbery afire, as the bikes weaved in and out between the massive imposing branches.

Damia opened the throttle, closed the gap. The scout sensed his pursuer gaining and recklessly veered this way and that, skimming through a narrow opening between two tall trees.

Over hill and under stonebridge they flew, narrowly avoiding collision, flaming dry vines in their afterburn.

They continued their high-speed slalom through the barricade of impassive trunks and low-slung branches. She had to brake though so many turns, in fact, that Damia seemed unable to draw any closer to her quarry. Suddenly she shot into the air, at an unbelievably steep incline, and quickly vanished from sight.

The scout turned around in confusion, uncertain whether to relax or cringe at his pursuers sudden disappearance. Her whereabouts became clear soon enough. Out of the treetops, Damia dove down at him, cannon blazing from above. The scout's bike took the shock wave from the near hit. Her speed was even greater than she had anticipated and in a moment she was racing alongside him.

The fleeing soldier suddenly swerved, slamming his bike into Damia's.

Their steering vanes locked.

The scout banked hard right, to try and smash Damia into an onrushing grove of saplings on the right. But at the last seccond Damia twisted and she and the scout missed by inches.

Suddenly the scout whipped out his laser pistol. She was helpless. She looked around in slow motion and saw a tree rapidly approaching. The scout fired.

Damia screamed in pain and fell from the bike into the foliage.

The scout looked behind him as Damia's speeder separated from his and exploded, with a satisfied smirk. When he faced forward again though the smug look faded, for he was on the collision course with the tree. In another seccond it was over.

But Damia didn't know this.

She lay still as her blood stained the earth.

&

Han and Chewie crouched opposite each other in the forest clearing, being quiet, and being near. The rest of the strike squad relaxed – as much as was possible – spread out around them in groups of twos and threes. They all waited.

Even 3PO was silent. He sat beside R2, polishing his fingers for lack of anything better to do. The others checked their watches, or their weapons, as the afternoon sunlight ticked away.

Suddenly, he beeped.

3PO looked apprehensively into the forest.

"Someone's coming." He translated.

The rest of the squad faced out; weapons were raised. A twig cracked beyond the western perimeter.

No one breathed.

With a weary stride, Luke stepped out of the foliage, into the clearing. All relaxed lowered their guns. Luke was too tired to care. He plopped down on the hard earth beside Solo and lay back with an exhausted groan. He rubbed his aching chest. How he had injured it was beyond him. He had no mark there but it burned with fire.

"Hard day, huh kid?" Han commented.

Luke sat up on one elbow, smiling. It seemed like an awful lot of effort and noise just to nail a couple of Imperial scouts; and they hadn't even gotten to the really tough part yet. But Han could maintain his light tone. Luke hoped it never vanished from the universe.

"Wait'll we get to that generator." He retorted in kind.

Solo looked around, into the forest Luke had just come from.

"Where's Leia?"

Luke's face suddenly turned to one of concern.

"She didn't come back?"

"I thought she was with you." Han's voice rose marginally in pitch and volume.

"We got separated," Luke explained. He exchanged a grim look with Solo, then both of them slowly rose. "We better look for her."

Suddenly Luke felt his chest burn again and he gasped, doubling over.

"Kid!" Han supported him. "Are you hurt?"

Suddenly Luke realised what it meant.

"Damia, where is she?"

Han shifted.

"She took off just after you and Leia, chasing another scout. She went in a totally different direction."

"She's hurt." Luke spoke with certainty and Han didn't question this.

"Look Luke we have to find Leia. Damia can wait."

Luke scowled.

"I care about Leia too Han. But Damia has been injured. We can't just leave her!"

"We have to." Han turned and signalled to the Rebel officer who was seccond in command of the strike team. "Take the squad ahead we'll rendezvous at the generator."

The officer saluted and immediately organised the troops. Within a minute they were filing silently into the forest, greatly relieved to be moving at last.

Han, Chewie and the two droids moved off. Luke stayed still, feeling quite sick. But he followed the others.

_Please be safe Damia._


	6. Chapter 6

**_The True Tale of the Return of the Jedi_**

**Hey guys I know it's been bloody yonks but ya know life goes on.**

**I hope you all had absolutely awesome New Years Eve and a very happy Christmas break.**

**REVIEW RESPONCES**

**gothic-chik****- im sorry the confirmation took such a long time.**

**SweetHeartJamie****- u'll have to read to find out**

**Lady of the Elements****- hey i didnt look at it that way.**

**greensoxs****- i updated as quickly as i could

* * *

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**_Chapter 6_**

Damia lay in a bed of ferns, her eyes closed, her skin as pale as porcelain. The light shifting through the forest canopy and foliage lit her form so that she seemed to glow with soft radiance. Her eyelashes cast faint shadows onto her icy cheeks; her long flaming hair was haloed around her face.

Her helmet was gone, had disappeared into a distant shrub as she had pursued the scout.

Her camouflage clothes had torn in her flight and in her fall. An observer could see the white marks of scarred tissue ringing her flat supple waist; it continued around her body and multiplied around her back.

These she had hidden with the Force in Jabba's court, even though it had been there that she had acquired them.

A young girl of 18 she had been then, hard trained with the Force, but she also had the impulsiveness of adolescence. When Jabba's cronies had first brought her before the slobbering gangster she had stood tall and had dared to defy him.

Jabba had been furious and she had been publicly flogged. Fortunately his anger had made him easier to manipulate so he hadn't taken advantage of her body.

But she still bore the scars of his brutal cruelty.

Now, slowly, dark reddish brown liquid trickled down her stomach, from her wound in her chest.

She was dieing, but the Force would not let her die. From the trees, the earth, the stones, the creatures, from everything, the Force flowed. It flowed into her bruised and battered body, restoring her.

It was nightfall before the Force healed Damia sufficiently enough for her to move without fainting. The young Jedi-Knight opened her eyes and knew with certainty that it was definitely time to be moving back to rendezvous with the men.

And with Luke.

Slowly she stood and surveyed the carnage around her. The tree that her speeder had hit was still smoking, as was the tree her enemy had fatally hit. Her muscles protested against moving but she did, hand warily resting on her Lightsaber.

The woods were eerie and Damia was worried about imperial patrols or unfriendly animals as she was in no fit state to fight. The Force was still healing her but it was a slow and lengthy process.

Doggedly she pressed on into the night.

&

Much later she felt something twinge against her Force Sense. She crouched and edged over to where the feeling had emanated. Three stormtroopers were there and they had cornered three creatures that reminded her of toy bears. The poor little creatures looked terrified and the Imperials were mocking them very nastily.

Damia made a quick decision.

She drew her Lightsaber but didn't ignite it. She swept the Force through her and leapt into the clearing, igniting her sword in the centre of the leap and killing one of the Troopers before he could react. At once the other two rounded on her but she dodged their blasts and killed them quickly.

The Battle Fire left her and she swayed. She shut down her sword and clutched at her chest where her wound was. Pain rippled through her and she let out a small whimper.

The Ewoks were wary of the strange creature but they could tell she was a friend and that she was in pain.

Damia could feel the Force scolding her for her reckless movements and closed her eyes as it set about repairing the damage.

The furred creatures edged forward and she felt one of them touch her arm with a soft padded paw.

One of them that she guessed was the leader made a few guttural growling noises that she assumed was their dialect. He tugged on her sleeve and she opened her eyes. They were pointing at a ladder up into a tree and up to where platforms extended across space between trees and little tree houses. A little further off she saw a long column of Ewoks carrying large objects attached to poles. She assumed it was their meal for the night and they were inviting her to join them as a guest.

She nodded and followed them up the ladder even though she was aware of her severely weakened state. Her small companions however were patient and she knew that they wanted to help her, she could feel the good will radiating from them.

She finally made it to the top of the ladder and onto the tree platform.

The houses wee made of carved tree trunks and frightened furry faces peered at her out of small-carved windows.

One of her guards was speaking rapidly to a guard and the other Ewoks inched closer to overhear.

Though she didn't understand the language she could sense the feelings emanating from her small guides. Some of the civilians were surprised and then awed while others were just grateful. Others were angry though not at her she sensed, rather with the Stormtroopers.

A few bowed to her in gratitude and she bowed back, which sent a ripple of astonished pleasure though the crowd.

They all joined her group and escorted her along rickety bridges made from lopped wooden slats from the great trees. Damia was in awe of the community and the crowd was appreciative of her pleasure.

Soon though they reached the main square where she saw a huge roasting pit being prepared presumably for the meal she had seen being carried. They must have gone a less main way, as they hadn't met with the food on the way here.

She was ushered into a large hut where Damia guessed the leader held audience.

She was led before a grey and ageing Ewok who seemed to be gesticulating wildly.

Damia felt her Force Sense twitch just as her eyes flicked over to a seccond figure being ushered hastily in.

It was Leia dressed, not in camouflage top and pants but rather, in a long flowing brown dress with a white under garment. Her hair was loose with small twists of hair framing each side of her hair. She seemed reasonably good and her brown eyes seemed to sparkle. Damia looked behind her thinking the others or at least Luke must be with her.

No one followed however and Damia shelved her concern for Luke as she expressed her delight in seeing her female friend.

"Leia!" she called and rushed over. The two women hugged while the group of Ewoks chattered in the background.

"Thank goodness." Leia murmured in her ear.

"Do you know what happened to the others?" Damia asked softly.

The older woman shook her head looking worn and worried.

"But you and Luke…" Damia pressed hoping against hope that Leia knew where her partner was.

"We got separated. He jumped onto a seccond speeder and chased others." Leia looked as worried at the young Jedi.

"I hope they are ok." Damia whispered.

"What, Luke and Han? They'll find their way into trouble any which way they go." Leia joked. Damia chuckled knowing how true that was. She sensed that the chief had accepted the two young women as friends and they felt soft paws pulling them away.

&

The food procession wound its way into the Village Square. Mother Ewoks gathered their babies up and scurried into their huts at the sight of the newcomers. The group stopped before the largest hut.

Han, Luke, Chewie, and R2 were bound to long wooden poles. Han was placed on a spit above what looked to him awfully like a barbecue pit and the others are leaned against a tree nearby. 3PO was seated on a litter/throne and was gently placed near the pit. He watched with rapt fascination. Han, Luke, and Chewie were less than fascinated.

"I have a really bad feeling about this." Han spoke worriedly.

Chewie growled his concern.

Suddenly all activity stopped as Logray, the tribal Medicine Man, comes out of the big hut. He examined the captives carefully and went to join3PO, whose throne had been placed on an elevated platform. A larger, grey-haired Ewok, Chief Chirpa, was examining Luke's Lightsaber with great curiosity.

Logray spoke to 3PO and the assemblage of fuzzy Ewoks, pointing to the prisoners tied to the stakes. The Ewoks begin filling the pit under Han with firewood.

"What did he say?"

"I'm rather embarrassed, General Solo, but it appears you are to be the main course at a banquet in my honour."

The drums started beating, and all the furry heads turned to the large hut. Leia emerged, wearing an animal-skin dress. She saw what was happening at the same moment that the prisoners saw her.

"Leia!" Han and Luke yelled. Leia tried to reach her friends but the Ewoks block her path, growling.

"Your Royal Highness." 3PO cried sounding quite startled. Leia looked exasperatedly down at the little Ewoks.

"But these are my friends. 3PO, tell them they must be set free."

3PO talked quietly to Chirpa and Logray, who listened and then shook their heads negatively. The Medicine Man gestured pre-emptory toward the prisoners and barked some orders. Several Ewoks jumped up and piled more wood on the barbecue with vigor. Leia traded frantic looks with Luke and Han.

"Somehow, I got the feeling that didn't help us very much." Han drawled.

Damia emerged from the hut and assessed the situation before her. None of the others including Leia noticed the young female Jedi.

"3PO, tell them if they don't do as you wish, you'll become angry and use your magic."

"But Master Luke, what magic? I couldn't possibly -"

"Just tell them."

3PO spoke to the Ewoks. The Ewoks were very disturbed and began chattering anxiously. Logray stepped forward and challenged 3PO. Luke closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

"You see, Master Luke; they didn't believe me. Just..." Damia shut out all sound.

Her wounds healed and her powers increased she sent a rope of Force Strength down the connection between her and her partner.

**_Luke use this!_**

**_Thank you, Damia. Where are you? I've been so worried..._**

**_Concentrate Luke. We'll talk later_**

Instantly she noticed 3PO begin to slowly ascend and she quickly grasped the older Jedi's intent. She leant her strength to lift and felt Luke start to spin the Droid leaving the levitation to her. She held on and saw the Ewoks rushing to untie the prisoners. When they grabbed Luke his attention wavered and 3PO wobbled dangerously. Damia swept her powers up and held the droid and slowly began to regally lower him down. So intense was her concentration she didn't see the others re-unite with Leia.

When 3PO sat the Ewoks began to bow and worship him again and Damia, back in world again stifled a giggle.

Then she saw Luke and ran over to him. She swept her up into a bruisingly crushing hug that left her gasping for breath. Soon though they realised how close they were and broke apart flushing.

Han and Leia smirked.

"Thanks 3PO." Luke said, his arm loosely wrapped around Damia's waist.

"I didn't know I had it in me." A very shell-shocked droid answered. R2 whistled and beeped in laughter.

&

Damia frowned.

The Rebels were in the Chief's hut and were listening to 3PO tell of their adventures. They were trying to secure help with their mission ahead. Han Leia and Chewie were on one wall, Luke beside a small door, dressed in fighting black. Damia was in a corner where she could watch all of them. It was Luke's attire that creased Damia's forehead. She hadn't gotten her weapons confiscated and they were around her waist hidden by a long black cloak.

She also had Luke's Lightsaber cinched next to her own where she had placed it after calling it to her. She had both of their blasters as well as an assortment of nasty implements that she labelled as 'last resorts'.

Luke was dressed lightly as though he was prepared for a long journey. He had hi well worn fighting boots as well as a cloak which he kept close to his waist.

He was well prepared for a battle but if Han had anything to do with it they would spend the night in the Ewoks tree village. Something wasn't right.

After their enthusiastic greeting Damia remembered the feeling when she had slipped into Luke's mind and seen that he and Han were searching for Leia. Not her, Han had made that clear.

The betrayal had cut clean through her. She had thought that even if Han had searched for Leia, after all he loved her, she had thought that Luke would search for her.

She had thought wrong.

She had remembered her anger and had been slightly cool to her Jedi friend.

She knew that Luke was planning something, probably reckless.

Suddenly she noticed that all the Ewoks were jumping around and that Leia and Han were smiling. Obviously they had received a pledge for support. It was then that she Sensed a wave of sadness from the man across the room from her. Her head came up and she saw him slip out into the night, followed closely by Leia.

She was about to move when she heard a voice in her ear.

"What do you think they are talking about?" It was Han. He sounded a little anxious and even a little jealous.

"I don't know, but something is very wrong."

"Hmmmmm. How do you mean?"

" I mean like that Luke is in full fighting gear and balanced for a fight."

"So are you."

"I'm going to follow him."

"So you think he's leaving us?"

"Probably it's for a good reason but yes I think he is."

"Look after him, Damia."

"I will."

The fire haired Jedi weaved through the room and slid out onto a balcony where she saw Luke kiss Leia and move away.

Jealousy swept through her and she fought it down, soothing herself with the Force. She made herself invisible and slipped past the softly weeping Princess and after her partner.


End file.
